Areas of Interest

Images from NASA's New Horizons probe reveal mysterious mounds made of frozen methane or nitrogen

"Pluto is an uncanny-valley world, with landscapes and vistas that seem strikingly similar to those of Earth—until you take a closer look.

NASA's New Horizons mission, which flew by the dwarf planet in July 2015, found that Pluto has towering mountains, but of water ice rather than rock; vast plains of frozen nitrogen and other exotic materials; and blue skies provided by a wispy atmosphere that contains no appreciable oxygen.

And now, a new study reveals another alien parallel: Pluto has an extensive dune system, but the grains that make up the wind-blown mounds are certainly not sand…"